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National Library News

September 1995, vol. 27, no. 9

Linking Libraries

by John Tooth,
Project Leader

The following article is an overview of a resource-sharing project being carried out by libraries in Manitoba.

Description

"Linking Libraries", a project to connect Manitoba libraries through telecommunications, will help to create a virtual library setting that will provide all learn-ers, from early years and nursery through adult, with electronic access to library resources throughout Manitoba. The Linking Libraries project is one part of the Education Reform Initiative of the provincial department, Manitoba Education and Training.

Objective

The objective is that all libraries, including school, public, college, university, special and government libraries, coordinate efforts to make effective library information resources and services accessible to all Manitoba learners. To permit the sharing of resources, major issues must be addressed. These could include:

• method of resource delivery (i.e., document delivery)
  
• access to library catalogues
  
• compensation for net lenders
  
• identification of current and future needs of learners and potential learn-ers
  
• adequacy of existing resource base
  
• mechanism/structure for coordinating libraries
  
• monitoring/tracking system
  
• cooperative collection development
  
• copyright and licensing agreements
  
• protocols for borrowing and lending
  
• access to alternative media (e.g., vid-eos, computer software etc.,)
  
• examination of current structures for linking and resource sharing (e.g., InterUniversities North, Library Express)
  
• barriers/solutions to resource sharing
  
• identification of stakeholders and mechanisms for communication (e.g., MBNET, Manitoba Telephone System, Management Information Services Branch, computer consultants, etc.)
  
• re-examination of "Networking in the 1990s" (1989), a Manitoba Library Consortium position paper
  
• staffing, including training and support
  
• recommendations from the May 25, 1994 forum, entitled "Manitoba's Electronic Information Highway: Networking, Libraries and the Future of the Province".

Through consultation with library stakeholders, Nordicity Group Limited was hired under contract to identify issues and problems, recommend implementation strategies, develop a budget, and produce a draft report and a final report.

Implementation Structure

The Manitoba Library Consortium Inc. is a non-profit organization which facilitates cooperative projects among Manitoba libraries that belong to different jurisdictions. A steering committee composed of 24 representatives from the Manitoba Library Consortium monitored the project to ensure broad involvement and feedback. A working committee, which has eight to 10 members and includes a distance-education specialist and representatives from school, public, college, university, special and government libraries, was also established. The members provided information and assistance to the project consultant, acted as liaison to the steering committee and the Manitoba Library Consortium Inc., and ensured that all issues of the project were being addressed.

Timeline

A draft report was prepared by Nordicity Group Limited and delivered by Feb-ruary 24, 1995. Using comments from the working committee and the steering committee, Nordicity prepared the final report, Linking Manitoba's Libraries: A Vision and Action Plan, which was delivered to the Linking Libraries Project on March 10, 1995. The report, accompanied by recommendations, was submitted to the Minister of Education and Training in April 1995.

On May 1, 1995, the Minister of Education and Training approved the following initiatives:

1. An Interdepartmental Linking Libraries Committee should be established to draft a Treasury Board submission that would recommend to the Minister a course of action to implement the report and to examine other related issues.

2. Since the resource-sharing issues identified in the report are broadly based and involve departments other than Manitoba Education and Training, the composition of the committee should consist of representatives from the following: Manitoba Education and Training, including the MERLIN Special Operating Agency, the Training and Advanced Education Division, the School Programs Division, Planning and Policy Coordination and the Bureau de l'éducation française; Manitoba Culture, Heri-tage and Citizenship; and Rural Development.

3. The Nordicity report, Linking Manitoba's Libraries: A Vision and Action Plan, which is a confidential advisory study to the Minister, should be released initially for internal government purposes only.

4. The report should be distributed to the members of the Manitoba Library Consortium Inc. who helped to draft the report, which is to remain confidential until released to the public by the Minister.

John Tooth
Project Leader
Instructional Resources
Manitoba Education and Training
1181 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3G 0T3
Telephone: (204) 945-7833
Internet: jtooth@minet.gov.mb.ca